Symbolism in "A Good Man Is Hard to Find"
             I was once told, "the shorter the story, the harder it will be to analyize." This concept may be true because of the symbolism that is often used in short stories. Symbolism is heavily used in "A Good Man Is Hard to Find" by Flannery O'Connor. This story has symbolism of deceit, Christ, and anti-Christ figures in two of the main characters as well as an extensive amount of animal symbolism (comparing the characters to birds). While this makes the story harder to understand at times, it also makes it a lot more interesting.
             The Grandmother is the most symbolic character in the story. She is a traditional, Southern "Christian;" however, she is very hypocritical. She symbolizes all hypocritical Christians who think they are living a good life by just going to church. On a higher level, she symbolizes evil. Her looks are rather deceiving. She was adorned with gloves, a hat with white violets, and the collar and cuffs of her dress were trimmed with lace. This paints an angelic image; however, she isn't angelic at all. It is believed that Satan appears in deceiving forms, and this could be one of them. The Grandmother is also deceitful in the way she controls her grandsons. She tries to raise them "the right way," but in doing so, she sets a bad example. She is actually teaching the grandsons to be an authoritarian figure. The Grandmother's character takes a turn in the end of the story and becomes a Christ figure when she calls The Misfit "one of my own babies." She believes she can help him by touching him in the way Jesus could, but this only startles the man. The Misfit claims "she would have been a good woman if there had been somebody to shoot her every minute of her life."
             Another symbol in the story is The Misfit. The Misfit does not exactly symbolize evil as one might expect. Ev...